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Why Are States Changing Their Approach to Mathematics?

Posted on 10/24/2015 @ 12:45 AM

By: William Renderos, Policy and Legislation Fellow, LULAC National

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are revolutionizing our approach to children’s learning in 42 states; Washington, D.C.; and four United States territories. These standards create a clear and concise single set of education standards for all participating states, with the goal of preparing students for entry-level credit courses in two or four-year college programs or the workforce. Switching to new standards in these states gives local schools an opportunity to improve their English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics curriculum.

Why is the common core necessary? In 2013, the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) issued their latest 8th grade mathematics report. Results showed that 79% of Latino students in the 8th grade had only a basic understanding of 8th grade math or below. Only 18% of Latino students in the 8th grade met the grade level standards for mathematics. These numbers show we need to somehow reevaluate the way we teach math to our Latino students. The new common core math standards that states have adopted allow us to do just that, opening the door to new approaches that improve the way students learn math. These new standards focus on critical thinking and reasoning development, which are key skills needed to understanding higher levels of mathematics.

Before the new standards, schools across the country would teach several concepts over a short period of time instead of focusing on in-depth knowledge of specific concepts. Like the saying goes, schools went an inch deep for every mile of concepts. Now, states with the new standards teach students in a way that helps them proficiently understand math concepts. Thus, we can say schools go a mile deep in understanding for every inch of concepts they teach. Curriculums based on the new standards build the depth of knowledge necessary to understand mathematical concepts, cultivating students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills and ensuring long-term success.

Dr. Raj Shah, creator and founder of Math Plus Academy in Ohio, talks about the importance of changing the way we think about the new math standards. In his video, Why is Math Different Now, Dr. Shah talks about how teaching students to remember math procedures at the expense of critical thinking does not work. Only a few students do well this way. However, teaching students to think and understand the concepts through critical thinking and reasoning skills helps them discover different ways of solving math problems. This leads to a better understanding of concepts for students who have trouble remembering math procedures. Ultimately, students who understand the concepts can think in many ways and it helps them with mental math.

LULAC understands that changing the way our Latino students learn math can be confusing and can create questions for parents who want to help their children succeed. To help eliminate the confusion, LULAC wants to provide parents with resources that will help improve their children’s critical thinking and reasoning skills in math. Our Ready, Set, Go Initiative will offer workshops that allow parents and their children to talk about the changes happening in the classroom while providing them with information sheets, study guides and other learning tools to help them with the new math standards.

Some of the resources will come from the website Be a Learning Hero, which separates resources by state, grade and subject, allowing parents and students to find the information they need for their state and grade on their learning tools page. Another helpful website is Univisión Contigo: Clave al Éxito, which provides Spanish resources for families who need learning tools for their child’s grade level.

Together we can change the way we think about math and help our Latino student’s intellectual growth with critical thinking and reasoning skills.

William Renderos is a Policy and Legislation Fellow for LULAC National. Prior to LULAC, he served as the Social Work Intern at Alliance for Justice and worked with a Maryland nonprofit organization to conduct outreach work with students attending alternative schools in Montgomery County. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work and Sociology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a Masters of Social Work in Community Action and Social Policy from the University of Maryland, School of Social Work.

Senate Must Reject the Anti-Latino and Anti-Immigrant "Trump Act "

Posted by Jossie Flor Sapunar on 10/20/2015 @ 12:45 AM

Photo credit: Derek Bridges/Flickr

By: Luis Torres, LULAC National, Director of Policy and Legislation

The U.S. Senate is scheduled to take on controversial legislation proposed by Louisiana’s U.S. Senator David Vitter. Earlier this year, Senator Vitter led a push to strip citizenship rights from U.S. born children of immigrants. He continued his attacks on the Latino community with legislation that would pit police officers against hard working immigrant communities, thus jeopardizing law enforcement’s ability to keep our communities safe.

Momentum for this legislation gained steam following Trump’s racist tirade against Latino immigrants, referring to them as drug dealers, criminals, and rapists. Aside from being inflammatory, Trump’s remarks are inconsistent with the facts. According to research from the Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, there is no correlation between immigrants and violent crime.

Unfortunately, Trump’s words seem to have had an effect on the Senate. Today, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling up Senator Vitter’s legislation—which will need 60 votes in order to be considered in the Senate as part of a procedural vote.

Some Senators are following Trump’s lead of characterizing the immigrant population as prone to violent crime. They are pointing to the tragic death of Kathryn Steinle, a woman who was shot by an undocumented Mexican immigrant. Steinle’s murder is now being used as an excuse to scapegoat 11 million immigrants, many of them Latino. This, despite the fact that Steinle’s family has commented on how disappointed they are with politicians like Trump are using their daughter’s death for such political purposes.

The Trump Act is the latest example of how anti-immigrant rhetoric has poisoned the work of the U.S. Senate. The policies espoused in The Trump Act, are, as the New York Times put it, a result of “a class-action slander against an immigrant population that has been scapegoated for the crimes of a few, and left stranded by the failure of legislative reform that would open a path for them to live fully within the law.”

America deserves action and not divisive rhetoric. Senators must not be permitted to scapegoat Latino immigrants for the actions of one man. Instead, the Senate must be reminded that the public knows better. That’s why 3 out of 4 Americans favor broad reforms to the immigration system, including legalization of those who are out of status. By contrast, S. 2146 only fans anti-immigrant divisions and further divides communities. A summary of the bill’s impact is listed below.

Senator Vitter’s bill will not improve public safety.

• S. 2146 bill would punish localities by withholding millions of dollars in federal grants upon which sheriffs and police chiefs rely to keep their communities safe.

• S. 2146 would undermine local policing efforts designed to foster trust between police and residents in order to root out crime.

• S. 2146 targets public housing grants that benefit rural and urban low income communities and are unrelated to crime prevention.

S. 2146 is out of touch with the vast majority of the American public.

• An October 2015 Pew Research poll shows that 74 percent of Americans favor legalization. S.2146 is out of step with our country.

• S. 2146 embodies an enforcement-only, mass deportation approach and attempts to deputize local law enforcement officials to arrest undocumented immigrants. Even worse it seeks to insulate rogue officers like Sheriff Joe Arpaio who may act in discriminatory manners.

• Senator Vitter has introduced similar versions of this proposal multiple times but has not gained broad support. Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed concerns about it.

• Congress should pass comprehensive immigration reform. The American people want it, and it’s what will make our nation stronger and safer.

S. 2146 ties the hands of judges and prosecutors by creating mandatory minimum sentences that would break the bank.

Luis Torres is the Director of Policy and Legislation for the League of United Latin American Citizens. Prior to LULAC, he served as Legislative Director for Congressman Silvestre Reyes, former-Chairman of the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and was one of a handful of Latino Legislative Directors in the U.S. House of Representatives. Additionally, Torres also served as a high school teacher in Washington, D.C. as part of Teach for America. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Sociology from Georgetown University, and a Master of Arts in Teaching from American University.